Wednesday, June 04, 2008

Every second "William" [*] story I read as a child had him exclaiming "Cor! A blimin' orange!", in a Ron Weasley voice, whenever he scored one of these rare wartime treats. Since I was growing up in south-east Queensland - where farmers put free buckets of excess, ripe fruit and vegies out by the roadside so passing motorists can help themselves - this made 1940s Britain seem even more an alien planet.

[*] For those who don't know the "William" books by Richmal Crompton... imagine Bart Simpson crossed with Agatha Christie and written by the author of Biggles, and you're in the general ballpark.

>"As was often the case with popular radio shows, there was a big >push to put it on the stage, where audiences could get to actually >put a face to the famous voices, and the actors could get to earn >decent money after the frugal pay checks offered by the BBC - >William was paid 4 guineas a show, standard pay for juveniles back >then, one line or star, didn't matter."

You can almost hear this contributor thinking "A shoe box! In the middle of the road!!!" as he writes this...

>"Britons too busy to peel oranges">>Tue Jun 3, 2008 11:27am EDT>>By Avril Ormsby>>http://www.reuters.com/article/oddlyEnoughNews/idUSL0328894220080603?feedType=RSS&feedName=oddlyEnoughNews LONDON (Reuters) - Britons are too busy to eat oranges in their lunch breaks nowadays and are opting instead for "easy to peel" fruit like satsumas, according to a survey. For the third year in a row, orange consumption has fallen. It was down 2 percent at some 600 million compared with the previous year, market researchers TNS said. Although still popular with the health-conscious over-45s seeking their 5-a-day fruit and veg intake, oranges are being replaced by the smaller and more manageable satsumas and tangerines among young adults. Both are easier to carry in lunch boxes, quicker to peel and less messy to eat. Consumption of satsumas rose 35 percent over the past year to about 460 million and the number of tangerines jumped 60 percent to about 62 million. "Satsumas are the key growth area," a TNS spokeswoman said. "Seven in every 10 times oranges are consumed for health reasons," she added. But while adults cannot find the time for oranges, they do encourage children to have them. Consumption among children is about 15 percent up. (Editing by Steve Addison)